The Four New Features in Google Maps That Make Travel Easier

Rafat Ali, Skift

- Oct 10, 2013 4:30 am

Skift Take

Google may never become the online booking killer that everyone expected it to become, but it can surely be the best travel information utility service on the planet, and it is using Maps to leverage into it.

Directions for multiple destinations: This seems like an obvious feature to have, and after stripping it out initially, it is back. And it is available for driving, walking and biking directions.

Multiple destinations for city attractions: A subset of the above feature, this allows users to add museums, historic squares, and other attractions by dragging and dropping in the order desired, and it adds the Views carousel in the bottom right corner, a way to preview Street View, Photo Tours, and other imagery.

Seeing pre-booked flight, hotel, and restaurant reservations right in Maps: This is potentially the biggest out of the four, and borrowed from Google Search. Users can find their existing flight, hotel, and restaurant reservations right in Maps, using airport codes or names of dining destination, and it’ll instantly show your upcoming plans. This info is only available when a user is signed into Google, and only they can see it for privacy reasons.

This feature is currently rolling out to Maps users in the U.S. and is available in English only.

Search for upcoming events: Adding events info based on venues. For example, search for Radio City Music Hall, the O2 Arena, etc, and clicking on the Upcoming Events card shows a schedule of concerts, sports matches, and other events happening near the users. Or users can start with a more generic search like “music venues.”

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